These 3 Interview Techniques Are Your Ticket to Top Medical Sales Jobs

Traditional interviews are failing recruiters — but not for long. They’re determined to do something about it.

In fact, recruiters recently revealed in LinkedIn’s report, Global Recruiting Trends 2018, that the traditional format of interviews is ineffective in assessing candidates’ soft skills, understanding their weaknesses, and that interviewers can be bias. This year, they’re taking steps to overcome these issues and more effectively place qualified candidates.

While it’s interviews, not job seekers, that are failing them, you need to understand how to attack these new interview techniques when trying to land medical sales jobs. Here’s a glimpse inside the recruiter’s shiney new toolbox to give you an edge over the competition:

Hiring for diversity

Hiring for diversity isn’t new in medical sales jobs. As a job seeker, you’ve seen the “equal opportunity employer” notes at the bottom of job descriptions.

However, the increased importance placed on hiring for diversity is new. In fact, 78 percent of recruiters in the previously mentioned LinkedIn report said diversity is very/extremely important in their hiring process. Also, over half (53 percent) said they’ve already either almost or completely adopted the trend.

Diversity has increased in popularity because recruiters and company leaders are hoping to improve company culture, performance, and better represent customers. In medical sales, especially, all three of these are critical for company-wide success.

Show recruiters you’re willing to confidently share your opinion, even it’s not the most popular. Share direct examples of a time when you used your unique experiences and opinions to add value and clarity to a project or challenging situation. Also, dive into your relationships with customers. Give recruiters a glimpse inside the relationships you nurtured thanks to your diversity.

Soft skills assessments

Soft skills are your non-technical skill related attributes. They range from communication to adaptability, problem-solving, teamwork, and integrity, just to name a few.

The soft skills assessments for medical sales jobs are used to get a more realistic snapshot of your personality. Recruiters look at how well you score on soft skills that are specifically important in their workplace culture.

The assessments vary between companies. Some simply present a set of questions and others outsource to vendors who gamify the process.

More obvious assessment questions can look something like this, “What soft skills do you think are required for success in medical sales?”

However, the not-so-obvious assessments may involve giving you a current sales problem and asking you to solve it in the moment.

No matter what type of assessment you receive, be honest with recruiters and yourself. These tests aren’t to prove whether or not you’re a worthy sales rep, but if you fit within the company’s culture and expectations. Trying overly hard to prove yourself could result in taking on a job that isn’t right for you.

Job auditions

The days of one-on-one, stuffy, in-office interviews for medical sales jobs are slowly disappearing. Recruiters have found simply asking candidates questions isn’t revealing their level of skills or job fit.

For a job audition, you’ll go into the office or be put in the sales field and will dive right into real-life company situations. This shows recruiters, and your potential future co-workers, exactly how you handle challenges as well as your selling style.

Show up ready to really dig in. Share your honest feedback and opinions during sales calls, in meetings, and when chatting one-on-one with current employees. But remember, recruiters and employees aren’t the only ones who should be assessing job fit. Pay close attention to current employees, managers, company policies, and sales processes to determine if this is a place where you’ll excel.

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